Diaspora Engagement section

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the Diaspora Engagement section of the PTB4President portal. On Saturday, October 13, 2018, under the auspices of PTB4Nigeria in the Diaspora, hundreds of Nigerians resident in Canada and the United States of America converged on the town of Calgary in Alberta, Canada for a town hall meeting to dialogue on the prospects of a New Nigeria. With much hope in the realisation of Nigeria’s long-standing aspirations for true nationhood, I engaged that receptive audience on a pragmatic pathway to resolving age-long national grievances and providing answers to lingering national questions. In my address, I spoke about my political trajectory from the pulpit to the podium and how I have, over the years, facilitated a meeting of minds between the best of Nigeria’s North and the best of Nigeria’s South towards forging true nationhood. Three years after the Calgary dialogue, on June 12, 2021, at a virtual town hall meeting with Nigerians in the diaspora, I reiterated the imperatives of Reconciliation, Reintegration and Reconstruction as milestones on the path to a New Nigeria. These and other past engagements with Nigerians in the diaspora were forerunners to the active opportunity to build a great nation that now beckons to us.

In response to the intense social, economic, political and strategic challenges facing our nation, I have decided to seek political office in order to guarantee A New Nigeria for Every Nigerian. In making this important decision, I am persuaded that lasting Peace can become our national reality. I am likewise convinced that we, as a nation, can make predictable Progress in attaining the redistributive ideals of social justice and inclusiveness. Furthermore, I am determined to unleash the Prosperity and wealth creation instincts of the Nigerian people, and I am optimistic about the enormous Possibilities of the cumulative potential of the Nigerian people. This is why I have decided to run for the Office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the 2023 elections on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

To every Nigerian in the diaspora, I cannot but appreciate your invaluable contribution to the Nigerian economy by way of ideas, citizen diplomacy, advocacy, and capacity building exchanges, in addition to remittances amounting to over $30 billion annually. It is no coincidence that the first public statement of my intention to run for office in 2023 was made at a virtual meeting with Nigerians in the diaspora on April 9, 2022.

You are strategic and indispensable to our goal of making Nigeria a cutting-edge nation; a nation in which government is nimble and agile, proximal in impact, technology-facilitated, knowledge-driven, wisdom- governed, service-oriented and glocal in outlook. You are crucial to our goal of establishing a state-of-the-art medical city in each geopolitical zone in Nigeria, as well as to our Educate to Industrialise Nigeria (EIN) agenda which will supply human capital for our national development objectives. You will also play an important role in our plan to establish industrial cities, clusters, hubs and enterprise zones in each geoeconomic zone in line with our Nigerian Geoeconomic Development Plan (N- GDP). Without a doubt, you will be an essential facilitator of our plan to establish Science, Technology and Innovation parks in each geoeconomic zone of Nigeria, as well as our plan to turn our Arts, Culture, Entertainment, Tourism and Sports (ACETS) into our national assets. Furthermore, our two-fold foreign policy thrust recognises that your interests are an integral component of Nigeria’s national interest.

This is why, when I am elected president, I will negotiate Diaspora for Development Agreements (DDAs) with the governments of your host countries whose development you have contributed to immensely. These agreements will enable you to fulfill your dream of giving back to your beloved home country, Nigeria, by deploying your expertise and competences towards her greatness. We will also ensure that, by the 2027 elections, you will be able to vote in elections in Nigeria. To this end, when I am president, I will work assiduously with Nigeria’s National Assembly to make provisions for diaspora voting in our electoral laws. I am also guaranteeing that, if I am elected president, should you decide to permanently return home to experience firsthand what is set to be one of the most miraculous economic transformations in modern history, Nigeria will be for you a safe and secure home, and the Peace, Progress, Prosperity and Possibilities capital of the world.

Thank you, once again, for visiting this portal. God bless you, and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.